The Magic Flute II: La Malédiction

AN ELECTRO OPERA, WORLD PREMIER

Composer & performer : Damon Albarn/Author : Jeremy Sams

From 27 to 30 March 2025

Who knew that Goethe had written a script for a sequel to Mozart’s The Magic Flute? Jean-Luc Choplin had the idea of giving Damon Albarn, with whom he had already worked at the Théâtre du Châtelet (Monkey: Journey to the West and wonder.land), the task of writing a score based on a libretto after Goethe by Jeremy Sams.

A series of concerts of this electro-pop score featuring the characters of the Queen of the Night, Pamina and Papageno.

Music by Damon Albarn

Libretto by Jeremy Sams, after Goethe

Directed by Olivier Fredj

Costumes: Missy Albarn

Videographer: Etienne Guiol

Arrangements and orchestrations: Stephen Higgins and Michael Smith

Musical supervision: Michael Smith

Musical direction: Stephen Higgins

Sound designer: Unisson Design

Lighting co-creator: Julien Pichard

Costume assistants: Marion Moinet and Dorian Spiess

Sound engineer: Samuel Egglenton

Assistant conductor: Theo Jamieson

From March 27th to 30th, 2025

THE GENESIS OF THE SEQUEL OF THE MAGIC FLUTE BY JEAN-LUC CHOPLIN

Reading Benoît Chantre’s book on Friedrich Hölderlin, Le Clocher de Tübingen, I discovered that during an evening in Tübingen attended by Hölderlin, Schiller and Goethe, the latter said he was writing a sequel to Mozart’s famous ‘Singspiel’, The Magic Flute. This triggered my curiosity and I set off in search of Goethe’s script and sketches.

I soon became convinced that there was an opportunity to develop the opera that Goethe had dreamed of. Namely:

– A fairy tale about the initiation of a couple against the backdrop of a Masonic fable and the fascination of the time with ancient Egypt.

– The spirit of Martin Wieland’s fairy tales, Dschinnistan, and Jean Terrasson’s apprenticeship novel Séthos.

– Faust II for the end of the script.

I asked Damon Albarn, the British musician and composer with whom I had already collaborated on the opera Monkey : Journey to the West and wonder.land at the Théâtre du Châtelet, to write the music for this sequel to the prequel Die Zauberflüte.

I asked Jeremy Sams, a British playwright, librettist and composer, to write the libretto for this opera in faithful accordance with Goethe’s notes. I suggested to Damon and Jeremy that we start by presenting a semi-staged concert version before developing a stage version at a later date.

As Hölderlin and Goethe prophesied, and paraphrasing Benoît Chantre, this electro opera speaks to us of a possible ‘European night’, and at a time when glaciers are melting and cities are ablaze, this new fable is a good way to think about our world and draw a moral lesson of courage and optimism from it.

A NOTE FROM DAMON ALBARN

The idea of me writing an opera and for it to be a continuation of The Magic Flute sounds ridiculous, it was and is, not only was I grappling with the genius of Mozart but I had Goethe to contend with too !! I suppose I took a relatively reductionist approach to the question, how the fuck do I do this ? The answer came from a surprising source but one no less brilliant, Kraftwerk.

A NOTE FROM JEREMY SAMS

It was Jean-Luc Choplin that introduced me to Goethe’s proposed sequel to Mozart’s Magic Flute. To my shame and surprise I hadn’t even heard of it ! Many of Goethe’s inventions were irresistible. Papageno and Papagena producing a brood of singing bird-children. Tamino and Pamina unable, through a curse, to console each other over their stolen child…

My job was to structure this 12-page fragment into an original electro opera. And then to write verses to inspire Damon – who in turn would inspire me. Our collaboration led us into directions which would have surprised, and I hope, delighted Goethe.

From a kidnapping during a rave, via an all-seeing bird and a hysterical man-queen, to a vision of the end of the world, our sequel has turned out to be wonderfully weird – almost as weird as its original. It has surprised and delighted us.

Distribution

Christopher Robson : Queen of the Night

Richard Burkhard : Sarastro

Elizabeth Karani : Pamina

Alfred Mitchell : Tamino

Anna Gregg : Papagena

Hugo Herman-Wilson : Papageno

Phoebe Rayner : Monostatos

Lydia Shariff : Bird

Choristers

Handel-Hendrix Academy Choir

Choir of the Maitrise des Hauts-de-Seine

Musicians

Thomas Bloch : Cristal Baschet et Ondes Martenot

Dan Moore : Keyboard

Henry Bowers-Broadbent : Keyboard

Ruth O’Mahony Brady : Keyboard

Theo Jamieson : Keyboard

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